


After the Fall

by lunarlychallenged



Category: Mean Girls - Richmond/Benjamin/Fey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-28
Updated: 2018-06-28
Packaged: 2019-05-29 17:06:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15077786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunarlychallenged/pseuds/lunarlychallenged
Summary: Cliques were overthrown after the age of the Plastics ended, making it the perfect time to start talking to Kevin Gnapoor.





	After the Fall

Cady Heron had shaken up the school in the best possible way, and you loved it. Some things were the same - you couldn’t expect one new kid to change everything. Still, she had left the popularity structure in ruins. If the most popular girl in school could be a mathlete, were the mathletes really so lame?

If the most popular girl in school was best friends with a painter and a theatre kid, the people in those clubs must be worth checking out.

After the Fall of the Plastic Empire, Gretchen joined up with the drama kids and Karen ended up as an anchor for the school announcements. Regina proved to be a force to be reckoned with on the the lacrosse team. People started talking to each other without being afraid of mockery.

You, as a cameraman for the announcements, had many opportunities to talk to all sorts of people. You filmed athletes and musicians; academics and artists. You got to talk to the burnouts and the future dropouts, and you learned that sometimes the lines between the labels were blurrier than you thought at the start of high school. You had the opportunity to talk to all sorts of people, for sure, but you spent far more time observing them than you did speaking to them.

Your favorite person to watch was Kevin Gnapoor. You filmed his few seconds at the talent show. You captured him at dances, moving enthusiastically and without shame. You filmed his requests for new mathlete members, and you filmed the competitions.

You could not have called him your friend, but it wouldn’t have been too much of an exaggeration if you called him your celebrity crush. Your job was to document, and all of the time you spent building his story built a home for butterflies in your stomach. Cady Heron’s effect on the school was important for grander reasons than just giving you a chance, but the chance it gave you was what you held close to your chest. If you were to ever have a chance with Kevin, it was now.

 

 

There was something different about filming the segment after states. Maybe it was because Cady had joined. Maybe it was the confidence brought on by the letterman jackets. Maybe it was the joy of winning the competition. Whatever the reason, the room was sparking with electricity while you set up.

“I just need you to tell me about the competition. The difficulty, the suspense, the outcome; you know the drill.” You stood in front of the mathletes, brow furrowed. “Do you all want to be on camera, or maybe one of you can represent the team? Thoughts?”

Kevin grinned and raised one hand. “I can soothe the masses.”

“It was a team effort,” Ms. Norbury said dryly. “You can report it as a team, Kevin.”

To Kevin’s credit, he wasn’t bothered by her command. He was quick to pop his collar, winking at you while you checked the settings on the camera. “Be sure to catch my good side, Y/N.”

You blinked, battling both the urge to stare at him and the urge to look away. “Which side is that?”

“You’re right,” he agreed. “Every side is my good side.” 

That hadn’t been what you meant at all, but you didn’t disagree. You lined up the teens against the wall and let them haggle over speaking parts. When the camera was on, Kevin took the lead. He rattled through the events of the evening, though you hardly paid attention. You had gone to the competition, so you knew what had happened. The other kids in the club had wanted to go to the dance, understandably, but your favorite person to watch at dances was a mathlete. There was no point going to the dance when the guy you wanted to dance with wouldn’t be there.

“Kevin,” Ms. Norbury said. She sounded very cross, and only then did you realize that Kevin had been speaking the entire time. “Why don’t you let Cady talk about the end? She was the one representing the team.”

“Sure enough,” he said easily. “Take it, Africa.”

Cady did well enough, and you assumed that you could use everything she said, but you had them go through it again so the other boys would have a chance to talk.

You kept half an eye on it this time, nodding at each teen when the time to switch speakers came. Keep it clean and precise. ‘Closing statement,’ you mouthed at them.

Kevin grinned and leapt in, cutting off Marwan. “So if any of you want to join the mathletes, come to Room 42. If anybody wants to bang a mathlete, now all of you woke hunnies know where to get it.”

“Kevin,” Ms. Norbury hissed. She turned to you. “Cut out that last bit.”

You nodded, failing to hold back your laughter.

“Kevin is a camera hog,” Marwan singsonged.

Kevin looked to Tyler for support, but the boy only gave a quiet, piggish squeal. When Cady laughed, Kevin threw his hands up in exasperation.

“All of you need to get off my dick!” When another burst of laughter escaped you, Kevin turned to you. “Except you, Y/N,” he said with a wink. “You can stay on my dick as long as you want.”

You fought back a flush. If you walked away now, embarrassed and flustered, you would never get the moment back. Lines were blurring, and if you didn’t make your position clear soon, nothing would change. You would continue having nothing with Kevin but longing looks and wishful thinking.

Shouldering the camera bag, you winked at him. “No offense, but I don’t think you could handle me for that long, Kev.”  
You left the room, leaving behind an uncharacteristically speechless team of mathletes.

 

 

“Y/N?” You turned when you heard your name, smiling before you even saw Kevin’s face. 

“Hey! Do you need something?” You paused for a second, then cut off his next words. “If you need a spot on the announcements, I already have a project for the next few days, but I could film something for next week, I think.”

“No, no,” he assured you. “I just had a question.”

You adjusted the bag on your shoulder. “Shoot.”

“Why weren’t you at the dance?” 

“I was filming your competition. Didn’t you see me?”

“Of course I saw you - who could miss a face like that?” He grinned crookedly. “All of us went to the dance after, and I didn’t see your face there.”

“I dunno,” you said with a shrug. “I guess I didn’t see the point in going. I just went to the studio to upload the footage.” 

“Oh. You should have come with us.”

You weren’t sure where he wanted to go with this. “Yeah, I’m sure it would have been fun.”

“Next year,” he promised. “Next year, the party will last all night long.”

“Those are big words,” you teased. “Sure the mathletes are worth the hype?”

“I am,” he said easily. “A night with Kevin G. will rock your world.”

“Your team had better start planning now. I’m hard to impress.” You thought he was really impressive, but you didn’t need him knowing that. Not now, when he was just starting to talk to you outside of class.

“Believe me,” he said earnestly. “I’ll impress you.”

It wasn’t until later, when it was far too late to ask him about it, that you realized he didn’t say the mathletes would impress you.

 

 

You were standing by the mathlete table, listening to Tyler and Marwan talk about a Doctor Who theory that had been going around Tumblr. Kevin was showing you how to write your name in circular Gallifreyan. You didn’t care much about the show or the language, but you liked watching his hands move.

You were trying your hand at it, albeit with shakier movements than his, when you heard laughter from behind you.

“God, look at that prime example of love making somebody stupid.” It was a group of sophomore girls, all little Plastic wannabes. 

You scowled. Kevin was brilliant. He didn’t love you, but that wasn’t the point. Talking to you wouldn’t lower his IQ, and he certainly had points to spare if it did.

“For real,” another girl agreed. “Y/N isn’t cool enough to hang out with mathletes without being infected.”

“We can hear you,” Kevin snapped. You weren’t used to seeing him so serious, but what really threw you off was the way his hands stopped moving. He was in constant motion, but his anger stilled him.

“What are you gonna do about it?” She was made ugly by her sneer.

He glowered, at a loss for words.

“Put gross footage of you on the announcements,” you said conversationally.

The laughter faltered. “You can’t do that.”

“Of course I can. It wouldn’t be hard, and I’m sure there are plenty of kids in the club who would love to take you down a peg.” You stared the girls down while they left, moving a little too fast to seem triumphant.

The boys looked at you, eyebrows raised. “Jesus,” Marwan said. “You have bigger balls than I do.”

“Duly noted.” You focused on the paper again. “I forgot where we were.”

Kevin’s hands were steady while he pointed out what you needed to do, but his voice had dropped a notch.

“Ignore them,” you murmured. “Hairspray has been rotting their brains. They don’t have brain cells to spare, not like you do”

He smiled. “It wasn’t my intellect they were talking about.”

“If they were smarter, they would see the benefits.”

He didn’t say another word about it, but he leaned in a little closer while he guided your hand.

 

 

When you agreed to film part of the tennis match, you had thought that it would be warm. It was spring, after all, and the end of the school year was approaching. The evenings were supposed to be bright and soothing. Winter had decided to lash out once more, and the air was biting.

Like any good cameraman, you decided to grit your teeth and bear it. You would get this footage if it killed you.

“Y/N, you look like someone shoved a stick up your gloryhole.”

You turned to see Kevin Gnapoor, looking toasty in his Mathlete jacket. You shot him a thin smile, not wanting him to see your teeth chatter. “Jealous?”

“Of the stick, or the gloryhole?”

You laughed, fascinated by the cloud of steam that followed. “Either, I suppose.”

“Always the stick. You need to dress for the weather,” he said.

“I did dress for the weather,” you said. “Just not the right weather.”

He grinned and shrugged off his jacket. “You can borrow this until you learn to get it right.”

“Are you sure?” You meant to sound discouraging, but just having it draped over your shoulders made your eyes flutter shut with delight.

“Sure,” he said. He waggled his eyebrows at you as he held the jacket for you to put your arms through the sleeves. “If you ever feel like repaying me, I can teach you a thing or two about warmth.” His breath puffed pleasantly against your ear, and you suppressed a shiver. You knew he was joking, but you were definitely starting to feel a little heated.

“Trying to teach me about enthalpy, Gnapoor?”

“All in the name of science, Y/N.”

You smiled at him, but turned away to get back to your job. He didn’t leave, however, and the two of you stood side by side to watch the players make their magic.

 

 

You frowned at the hallway wall. More specifically, you frowned at the piece of art you had to hang up. You didn’t mind taking an art class, but you were always annoyed by the assignment requirements. Sure, it was important for kids to know the primary and complementary colors. You totally agreed with that. But why should you have to ruin a perfectly good drawing by following a required color scheme? Awful.

You had to draw a self portrait, and then you had to paint it all in shades of one color. There would be one feature in the complementing color. In your picture, everything about you was red aside from the green eyes.

You were still cleaning up in the hall when the bell rang, and a hand brushed against your elbow. It was Kevin, who waved Tyler and Marwan to keep going.

“Did you paint that?” He gave your deformed painting a lopsided smile.

“Unfortunately.”

“I think it’s nice,” he said. 

“It looks like a demon,” you scoffed. “Not even a cool one. It’s a sad demon.”

“You really captured yourself. The bedroom eyes are just right.” He laughed when you shoved him.

“Get to class, Gnapoor. I don’t need this negativity in my life.”

He sobered, but his eyes still glittered. “Actually, there was something I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Oh?”

“We should hang out this summer. My dad is totally pimping my ride, and I could take you for a spin,” he said. He leaned against the wall, drawing your eyes to the ugly painting again.

Your lips curled against your will. It was the way a few strands of his hair dangled over his forehead. You liked his cheekbones and his lips, but you couldn’t very well say so when he was looking at you like that. He would ask why you were smiling, and he wouldn’t want to hang out with you anymore once he found out.

“Daddy’s finally taking the training wheels off your bike? Swanky.”

He shook his head, mock disappointed. “You wound me, babe. He’s upgrading my stereo. You’ll be able to hear by beats from three blocks away.”

“What’s the point of hanging out, if I can hear your music without having to see you?” You were adjusting the painting, but only so you could get a little closer to Kevin. He reached over to help, his fingers brushing against yours in the process.

“This is a multi-sense experience. Seeing me enhances it,” he said with a wink. “If you’re nice, we can throw in a couple of other senses.”

“What do you have in mind?” You knew if it was a joke, he would make it clear. If it wasn’t a joke, you wanted to urge things along.

His eyebrows rose, as though he wasn’t expecting you to express any interest. How could you not? “We’ll already have sight and hearing. You and I could get down with a little smell, taste, and touch.”

“Okay. Sure. If you buy me dinner, we can check out some other senses.”

He was glowing, hands flying as he spoke. “Gucci. I am totally DTFeel you up.”

You laughed. “Dinner first.” The warning bell rang, so you started backing up. You still didn’t want to look away from him, leaning against that awful picture and smilin like he had won the lottery.

Summer was looking great already.


End file.
